St. Maximilian’s Marian Devotion
This is the first part in a series of articles from Fr. Simon Tipps about our Pastorate’s new patron, St. Maximilian Kolbe.
Some saints are known for their courageous witness to The Truth by physically dying for The Faith, these we call martyrs. Others are known for their lives of purity and the ability to die daily to themselves in order that God’s will might always prevail, these we call confessors. St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, our new patron saint, was both.
Kolbe was born on January 8, 1894, to a devout Catholic family in Zdunska Wola, located in modern-day Poland. At his baptism, he received the name Raymond.
One day, when little Raymond was misbehaving, his mother called out to him, “What is going to become of you Raymond?!” The concern of his mother frightened little Raymond and he ran across the street to the parish church. Here, he knelt down in front of the side altar of Our Lady of Victory and asked Mary, “What will become of me?” Mary then appeared to him holding out two crowns—a red crown and a white crown. The red crown signified a martyr’s death and the white crown a life of heroic purity. The Blessed Virgin asked Kolbe which crown he would like to receive. In childlike simplicity, he exclaimed, “I choose both!”
This prophetic vision was fulfilled in St. Maximilian Kolbe’s life and death. He would die a martyr’s death by shedding his blood for The Faith. By his life, he showed heroic chastity and death to his own self-will.
Especially as a Franciscan friar, he took seriously his vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity. It was well known among his confreres that he vehemently detested any violation of chastity, particularly in speech. This was because he desired to please God above all else.
This first lesson from St. Maximilian's life ought to fill us with the desire to love God with our whole heart. We ought to seek sanctity above all else, especially in our sufferings. No matter what others think of us, we should strive to follow St. Maximilian Kolbe’s example and beg for his intercession so that we desire both crowns as he did.
